OFFICIAL 9/11 RJ TRIBUTE:
With 10 years since, post where you were, how you felt then.
What have we learned since?

Hard to believe that Sunday will mark 10 years since the United States was attacked by Bin Laden and his cohorts. It marked an event that we all will remember for the rest of our lives. The event, the death and destruction, the governmental reaction.. which will have "after effects" for decades.

So tell us how you were that day.... maybe where you were or how you felt,things you saw, maybe how you saw others react. How do you think thecountry has coped since?

I was in Toronto that day. I had taken a long weekend to see a friend of mine in Rochester, NY. He had taken me back to TO on Monday nightand I had dinner and stayed overnight at another friend's home on the west side of TO. He had his Toyota Landcruiser stolen and that's how the day started.Heard about the North tower on the way downtown to shop and heard about all the events while there. I remember calling my Dad, standing out on Queen St. and telling him, "well it looks like I'm not coming home today".Lots of interesting events, but finally made it home the next weekend via a train through Windsor and Detroit. All I wanted to do was get home.I just recall feeling sick about everything to do with it. Angry and confused.I think we were all for Bush at that moment. The good feelings whenwe started working as a country.. as a people afterward. I won't ever forget some of those positive feelings. You couldn't drive anywhere without seeing American flags or signs with "God bless the USA" everywhere.

I was home just getting up for work. My mom called me. I worked in tower 2 for a year an worked across the street next to the amex building for three years so I spent a significant amount of time there.

I remember thinking "How are they going to put a fire out that far up". Having worked in the building I couldnt phathom it. Then when the first tower fell I thought how weird it was going to look. When you come out of a subway to get your bearings of east/west/north/south The towers were always a landmark you could see to figure out where you were. I thought "one tower is going to look weird".

And of course I thought of all the people. I flashed to riding the elevator every day packed with people. I remember seeing the sculpture that was the water fountain and remembering how I ate my lunch there almost every day. The entire day was surreal to me. To this day, 10 yeas later, I cannot watch anything having to do with it. Even the video posted by the OP. Its just more than I can take.

I just started my junior year of high school and was in accounting class when I heard the news. I was absolutely mesmerized by what I saw on TV and thinking of the people trapped in the building and later seeing those two wonderful pieces of 1970's architecture crumble and fall. I heard somebody say that "It was just a matter of time" which I took as a being a strange thing to say. But, they were so right.

I'm probably going to get flamed for this but in the years since the attack, my views on it have changed in a big way. These attacks made me realize that people in this world DO hate us and it really forced me to ask myself WHY they hate us. It made me realize that although we are a great nation, that gives us NO right to go bossing other countries around and coming and going as we please and supporting dictators and tyrants when it suits our interest and opposing them when it doesn't. When one meddles in the business of other people who don't want us meddling in their business, something bad is going to happen and 9/11 was the outcome.

The men who carried out this attack knew that by doing the 'least' amount of damage, they could cripple a powerful nation and bring it to it's knees in a matter of hours. Sadly, the effects of that attack are still being felt today.

Even sadder is the way many people have coped with this. It's led to increased suspicion of Muslims and Arabs and Middle Easterners; two destructive and pointless wars; a devastatingly weak economy; a misguided spirit of revenge; and perhaps worst of all, a with us or against us attitude.

And honestly, I don't know what we've learned as a nation in the ten years since. Some days I honestly wonder if we've learned anything about ourselves and the world around us. I love this country and NYC is one of my favorite cities, but are we really any better off today???

I was in the 7th grade when the towers got hit. I remember that the teachers were being extra firm that day. Not mean, just firm. They were to keep the news from us. As the day wore on, I could see that more and more kids were leaving. By the time I had lunch, half the kids were gone. We were all confused and even at 13 years old, knew something was up. Ironically, it was in my history class, the last period of the day, that we were told of the events. Our principal came over the sound system and announced that all after school activities were canceled due to planes crashing. I remember how awkward it was to hear because her voice sounded SO heavy, like she wanted to cry. It scared me because she was always so stoic. I just wanted to get home.

I run home and my grandmother is crying when she answers the door and she hugs me so tight. The whole day is too much for her and she collapses on me. Here I am, a 7th grader, and my grandmother collapses on me.

I turn on the tv and I see that famous image of a man falling to his death. He saw no other way out then to just fall to his death.

I slept with my mom, my brother and two sisters that night.

What really makes me sick about the whole thing, is the next day, middle school children were discussing this terrible event. Not pokemon, not dragonball z, not anything middle school kids usually discuss. We all had the newspaper with the image of buildings on fire and death. I felt so weird inside. 9/11 is the day I lost my youthful innocence.

My goal is to move to NY. Not just because my career calls for it, as a dancer that's where the work is, but because I want to be a part of post 9/11 NY. I want to be a part of the greatest city in the world and prove to those who did this that you can knock an American down, but you better be prepared for when we dust ourselves off and get back up.

10 years back I was 13 years old in grade 7. I remember that day, I and my brother just came home from school around 14:00 here in South Africa. Just after two I heard what was going on on the radio.

Around 15:00 they started to broadcast it on one of our tv channels, SABC 3. I think they broadcasted it until 21:00 or 22:00 that evening. One of the things I remember the most was when that second plane crashed. We were still watching it when suddenly that crashed happened.

Even though I am not American, it had a huge impact on me still being a child watching all those horrible events.

I was in Atlanta, and was schedule to work that night at the Alliance Theater.I got a call that the show was being cancelled that night due to issues in NY.I don't know if I had turned on the TV at that point or not. It still disturbs me to see the videos from that day. Since 2001 I actually moved up to NY area and visited Ground Zero. It was just the biggest hole in the ground I had ever seen.I travel more than the average American, and I have seen all the changes in the airport. Does it bother me, nope, I think our country has sat too comfortable for a long time. Do I think what happened was justified, No not saying that but being searched and seeing armed security is something many countries have had forever.It was the only time that on a reality tv show-Big Brother, the cast was able to call home.Our country has changed, but I'm not sure if we have changed enough. It's our responsibility to be aware and alert.

I was in high school back in Europe. It was around 3pm, I just got home from school. My dad was hanging over the dinner table with his mouth open just staring at the screen. Right about then the second plane hit the other tower.

Then I called my friend to discuss this, using the home phone. And then the whole school was talking about it the next day.

I'm kinda sad actually that I never got to see the pre-9/11 America, I'm sure it was a much nicer place.

We had moved to Hawaii a few months prior, so we slept through most of it. My partner woke up before I did and woke me up to watch the news coverage.

It was not until very early on 9/12 that we got a call from a friend telling us that a mutual friend had been in the flight crew of one of these planes. I knew the instant the phone rang what it was going to be about.

It was very odd being in Hawaii during that time period. I was walking around in shock, but it seemed like it took the locals several days to wake up and realize the severity of what had happened. The biggest effect on our personal lives was that all the airports and ports were shut down for a couple of weeks - nothing, and no one, got in or out. Stores started running low on some things, and my partner couldn't get to the mainland for a planned visit to his terminally ill mother.

I was in high school on my way to the library as I always was during study hall when the principal came on and told us that a second plane had struck the World Trade Center. I remember sitting in the library at my computer complaining that the internet was down and I couldn't do anything. It wasn't until my 5th period class that I saw actual footage of what was taking place that the magnitude of the situation came about.

I remember the conflicting information on the news networks, how the said the heat could melt the steel then how there was no way, etc. I remember being swept up in the documentaries like Loose Change and what not that came out shortly thereafter.

Now, as I look back at things I realize that it really started a long and pointless war that cost more lives than it should. It spurred banners of "fighting for our freedom" which quite frankly no one has fought for our freedom since the Revolutionary War. Call me naive but no one is ever going to invade us and try and take us over again.

While I'm glad that our troops have managed to liberate very dispute ridden countries, I don't think it should have taken as long as it has. This country has ended up worse off as a result of the events then it was prior.

Well I was in my apartment in Hollywood just getting in from my morning hike. I was watching TV and to be honest I thought it was a movie scean until I turned up the sound and saw the second plane hit.

I was in los angeles at a customer facility. It was very surreal. I walked into the building, and they had it up on all of the monitors.

Their comment only that morning.. I do not think we will be doing the upgrade today.

I packed up my things and drove home to San Diego. The 405 was a ghost town. There was no way to exit the freeway to Century Blvd towards LAX.

I just drove stunned and in silence all the way home.

I cannot watch any of the footage to this day.

I am, however; on a plane into LGA on Sunday September 11th. I work in NYC every month, and I wanted to be part of the day. So I purposely am flying on Sept 11. It *SHOULD* be the safest day of the year to travel.

The what are doing what? Nothing he was saying made any sense to me, still half asleep.

He'd lived in Manhattan for nearly 20 years before retiring and returning to his rural home town, where we both now lived. I'd grown up literally within sight of the New York skyline, had seen the Towers being built, had been inside them numerous times. But how could they be falling? THOSE Twin Towers?

I turned on the bedroom TV and saw replay after replay of the first tower to collapse, the other one still burning. Then I saw the other one fall as it happened live.

I wasn't teaching that day, given time to attend a college History class myself that afternoon, a State requirement for Social Studies teachers. Our Professor cancelled his lecture, instead improvising a classroom discussion of the tragedy of a few hours earlier, the smoke still billowing from the ruins. Video of the 2 planes slamming into the buildings already had made it clear this was a deliberate attack.

He asked us was this comparable to Pearl Harbor, or the day President Kennedy was assassinated. I wasn't around to witness the former, and in high school for the latter. Most of my classmates were in their early 20s and barely could relate to his question, those events just pictures in a text book and words to be memorized for a quiz.

And what struck me was how that day's event was likewise a distant thing to them, in more ways than miles, no more real or of interest to them than Pearl Harbor or President Kennedy. They did understand that others thought it was important, but they themselves were untouched, and largely uninterested.

That was New York City -- what did it have to do with them? They'd seen all kinds of catastrophes in films and on TV all their lives. This looked about the same, even less than some; why is everyone getting so upset?

And so while the Professor tried to generate grim concern for what had just happened, and a few of us older students echoed his thoughts, most of the younger students were merely bored by the whole thing. And puzzled why we were making such a big deal about it.

As an aside: my ex-BF was worried all that day about his friend of many years, who worked in one of the Towers. A guy I'd met myself. Toward evening my ex got a call from him. His morning commute from Long Island had been delayed, and he arrived at work just as the first tower fell. He would have been inside it had he been on time.

Art_Deco saidAnd what struck me was how that day's event was likewise a distant thing to them, in more ways than miles, no more real or of interest to them than Pearl Harbor or President Kennedy. They did understand that others thought it was important, but they themselves were untouched, and largely uninterested.

I think this is a testament to things like television and the internet and how they have sort of numbed society (especially younger people) to some of the harsh realities of real life. They have seen so much with special F/X in movies and on television, that when it actually happens it's almost not real to them and they are detached and uninterested at first.

I was in sixth grade homeroom, and I remember all the teachers leaving to gather in the hall, and then we were all sent home for the rest of the day, after finding out what had happened, it lead me to being where I am now...

I was a freshman in high school and I had just switched to my 2nd period class, Spanish. For some reason the lights were off in the classroom. The seniors were coming in late because they had some kind of assembly and when one of the last seniors came in, they talked to our teacher outside of the room to tell her what happened. She immediately started to cry and was in disbelief. She collected herself as bet she could and then told us what happened.

Because I live 15 minutes away from the city in NJ, a lot of us were scared about parents or relatives who worked there/around there. A half day was called by the school, and I remember my sister and I were called out even earlier by my mom since she just wanted the family together; even my dad came home from work to have an extended lunch. We were glued to the tv and then watched the towers fall and people run. It was so unnerving. Unfortunately the father of one of the girl's in my class died in the attack, as did some other parents of my peers.

Later on at night I remember going to some of the hills in my town with my dad and just looking at the skyline. Downtown was completely lit up and there was barely any wind that night. The smoke and debris were just hanging over that area; it was so eery.

It's definitely hard to believe that it's already been 10 years since the attacks. Remembering it now feels like it happened just recently.

I was in 10th grade when it happened. It was a little after 10am, I in the locker room changing after PE, and then the principal made an announcement on the PA system about planes crashing into the Twin Towers in New York. No further details. I didn't think anything of it at the time and most of my day went on as normal.

It wasn't until my final class of the day, geography, that I got more information about what happened. My school didn't have TVs installed in the classrooms yet, so nobody was able to turn into the news or anything. I mostly kept hearing rumors throughout the day. But my geography teacher spent the whole class time talking about what happened and the link to Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. She filled us in on what she knew, and that was that.

What was more disturbing to me was hearing about the plane crash at the Pentagon because my father worked in DC. He didn't work at the Pentagon, so I wasn't worried about his safety. I was mainly worried about him getting home from work because I expected the Metro to be fucked up after the plane crash.

I came home from school and immediately turned on the TV. That was when I finally got the chance to see videos of the planes crashing and the towers later falling. More than anything it was unbelievable to me how nearly every channel on TV was tuned to a major news program following the event.

To be perfectly honest, I really didn't feel much of anything at the time. Sure, I knew what happened was huge and terrible. But I don't recall feeling much emotion. Maybe I was too young. Maybe the event wasn't personal to me. But the seriousness of that day didn't hit me till a year later when my school held a memorial assembly. Then later that day my AP US History teacher showed us a documentary of the attacks. Seeing close up footage of the planes crashing into the Twin Towers, people jumping out of windows plunging to their death, and finally the towers falling, all that finally got to me. I left the classroom nearly in tears.

My sensitivity to 9/11 was later affected by similar attacks in Madrid just a few years later because Spain was my first homeland (even though I never lived in Madrid).

Something else I forgot I did that day: As it became apparent this was some kind of attack, with the Pentagon also being hit, speculation arose on TV that the rest of the US was under assault, as well. Reports were already coming out that all air flights over the US were being grounded.

I phoned my best friend in Seattle, still early morning on the West Coast, to alert him. I don't think I was quite as hysterical as my queeny ex who'd called me earlier, but he was nevertheless dubious, and questioned whether my previous terrible day, which I'd also shared with him after it happened, had caused me to have a nervous breakdown overnight.

But I was deadly calm, and said repeatedly: "Turn on your TV, now. Doesn't matter what channel, they're all covering it. Listen to me: just shut up and turn your TV on. Do it!" (I love being butch giving orders)

Finally I heard an "Oh my God!"

They lived just outside Seattle, him with offices there, and there was speculation on TV that other major US cities could be under attack. This is how crazy things were in those first hours. And his partner worked at Microsoft HQ in Redmond, conceivably another target.

In much of the US it wasn't only watching those towers burn and fall, but also "What's next?" That's an aspect many don't want to discuss or admit today, and why so many people were tense all that day.

Art_Deco saidAnd what struck me was how that day's event was likewise a distant thing to them, in more ways than miles, no more real or of interest to them than Pearl Harbor or President Kennedy. They did understand that others thought it was important, but they themselves were untouched, and largely uninterested.

I think this is a testament to things like television and the internet and how they have sort of numbed society (especially younger people) to some of the harsh realities of real life. They have seen so much with special F/X in movies and on television, that when it actually happens it's almost not real to them and they are detached and uninterested at first.

Well put, and my very point. It's all virtual reality, as far as they're concerned.

The weight room - normally blaring crappy 80s hair metal amid the sound of crashing weights - was deathly silent as we hung on every word coming out of one of the regular juice-head's radio that was ever present in the gym.

Needless to say - OBL and the terrorists won that day by forever enshrining the Culture Of Fear and Security Theatre into our society.

I was home getting breakfast and preparing for going to Federal Court, (my job had me in court a lot) Katie Couric interupted her regular program to tell and show footage of the first plane going into the WTC tower. Here words were, "We are being attacked".

Shortly after I got the call that all Federal Buildings were now closed across the nation, so the case I was involved in was cancelled.

What we learned since then is that our nations Neocon leaders took us down a road of Middle East interventionism that they'd been wanting to go down for a long time, and that doing so was a gift to the terrorists for recruiting purposes, a bigger win for the terrorists who spent about $500,000 and cost the US when its all said and done about $5 Trillion, these idiots who led us into these wars and etc., gave a win to the terrorists in proportions they couldn't have even dreamt of.

What do we have to show for all this ? A nation deeply in debt, A nation that's becoming a surveilance state with a lot of freedoms lost. A nation making excuses for the loss of the 'moral high ground', because of torturing, doing away with Habeas Corpus rights and lies to promote war.

Worst of all is, we spent all this money, lost the freedoms and the moral high ground for our country and have no benefits to show for it, not even more oil and are if anything less safe for the efforts.

We should learn from this not to trust Government Leaders motives. Question everything they say or do whether republican or democrat by following the money..

One of the things I find really sad in the aftermath of 9/11 is that I remember that day, and the days after, and how it seemed to genuinely bring the country together and we truly stood united. I just wish that feeling would have lasted longer because today I feel as though this country is divided more than it ever has been. Perhaps 9/11 didn't really teach us anything at all.

I was in the 6th grade in English class and we were watching the news when it came across the screen that many people were killed in NYC including my close friend Byron. It was very heartbreaking regarding the 9/11 attacks plus the loss of my good friend i miss him a great deal.

I was in Calgary and that morning was scheduled to attend a 2 day railroad seminar. I pulled up to the facility where it was being held about 8.a.m and quite a few of the guys were all standing outside the building when they told me about it. The seminar was cancelled and we spent a good couple of hours watching it on the news until we heard what our company's plans were about beefing up security etc, shutting down some operations in the northeast etc.. since no one at that very moment knew if the towers were just the beginning of more to come.